Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 7 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Someone Who Knows the Past

Feeling a little parched, I reached out for my teacup and gulped its contents in one go. The tea had gotten tepid while we were talking, but it was more than enough to settle my emotions.

“Sorry,” I said, placing the empty cup back on the table.

“Oh?” The Misty Lodge’s downturned eyes widened. “I didn’t think you would apologize,” she said, brushing the bundle of golden-brown hair hanging over her chest. “I kind of thought you’d complain.”

“Complain? What about?”

“The experience was rather unpleasant for you, wasn’t it?”

“Aah...” I nodded at that, then shook my head. “I won’t deny it, but my companions thoroughly relished their stay. I have no intention of criticizing you.”

“I see... It’s because you have such a personality that you didn’t change at all,” the Misty Lodge said, putting a hand to her chest.

“Didn’t change? What do you mean?”

“Just as I said before, the Misty Lodge is magic that creates another dimension. It has the power to rewrite reality.”

She started explaining while raising one finger at a time. She really did look like she was enjoying herself. Perhaps she was rather talkative after repeated contact with humanity over the ages.

“To be more specific, the desires of those who wander within become reality, even if their desire was absurd to begin with. The glamor that blocks their cognizance of this is only to make sure they don’t find it strange.”

“Everything here is reality,” I mumbled. “The glamor is only a part of the magic. You did mention that earlier. The discomfort I felt was because of these impossibilities, then?”

Any desire could be granted in a way that felt consistent with reality. It genuinely was a world of dreams.

“Yes. However, if the glamor is used for something other than tampering with the inconsistencies of the manifested desires of those who wander in, it loses its potency. Do you remember? When you peeked on Shiran and Kei, you realized that her spirit couldn’t detect you. That’s why you noticed it. At the time, I used my glamor magic to show you that I had no ill will.”

“That wasn’t a normal function of the Misty Lodge, so even though you managed to fool the spirit, you couldn’t hide the fact that you’d done so?”

“That’s how it is. I specialize in constructing the magic called the Misty Lodge, so anything unrelated to it is additional magic and therefore a step or two below in power.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s plenty impressive on its own. Nobody notices the impossible...” I suddenly realized something. “Oh yeah, I didn’t feel anything off about some of my companions. Why is that?”

“It’s simple. If you didn’t feel anything peculiar about them, it means nothing had changed from before. You, Mana, Ayame, and Kei didn’t change one bit.”

“In other words...”

“You are all satisfied with the present.”

That made sense. That was why she’d told me, “It’s because you have such a personality that you didn’t change at all.” It was true. So long as I had the girls by my side, I was pretty much fully satisfied. So long as they were happy, I could hope for nothing more. That was why I’d remained the same even after entering this dimension of dreams. Maybe Katou, Kei, and Ayame felt the same way. On the other hand, it meant everyone else had some sort of desire.

The glamor had already come undone for me. I was the only one who knew how everyone had changed. That said, I didn’t know how these changes reflected their desires. Well...I knew how for one of them. Gerbera was easy to understand; she was simple and honest. At the risk of sounding like I’m bragging, she was adorable like that. It made me feel ashamed as a man, though, because I couldn’t withstand her embrace. At the very least, I could strengthen my body some more. I mean, she desired my embrace that badly.

“Thank you for explaining things to me. That really clears it up,” I said with a smile. “I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what I got caught up in these last three days.”

“I really must apologize for that.”

“Like I said, I don’t really blame you, so don’t worry about it. Well, I was rather anxious,” I added with a wry smile. “It was like I was dancing all alone on— Ow.”

A sudden pain shot through my left hand, making me swallow my words. I looked down to see Asarina gnawing on my finger. I smiled gently at the sight.

“Right. I wasn’t alone. You were with me all along.”

“Ssster!”

“Now that I think about it... Why were we the only ones unaffected by the glamor?”

“Oh, about that. This child has a high resistance to glamors,” the Misty Lodge replied, watching the two of us with a smile. “Her resistance even had an influence on you, seeing that you’re connected.”

“Oh, so it’s because of Asarina?”

“Ssster...”

“I’m not blaming you or anything. Don’t worry.”

I poked Asarina as she drooped down. The Misty Lodge giggled at this.

“Incidentally, Gerbera was also just barely caught in it,” she said. “That girl really is beyond the norm.”

“Is that so? I was under the impression that you were much stronger than her. At the very least, you’ve lived longer than she has, right?”

Gerbera hadn’t obtained a heart until I met her, but that wasn’t the case for the Misty Lodge. Her legends were passed down across all territories, meaning she’d gone a long time without assaulting any humans. That would be impossible for a monster without a will.

However, without the aid of my ability, it took a long time for a monster to properly gain a heart. The Misty Lodge had definitely spent much more time wandering this world than Gerbera had. I thought that meant the Misty Lodge’s power would match that difference, but the Misty Lodge shook her head.

“Didn’t I tell you?” she asked. “I specialize in constructing the magic called the Misty Lodge. I don’t have much power otherwise.” She cast her eyes down, her golden-brown hair swaying about. “I’ve done nothing but drift around this world for a long time. I’ve seen many things in that time...”

She lightly shook her head, pulled herself together, and smiled playfully.

“Hee hee. Actualizing this world is remarkably inefficient, you know? Once activated, I can only maintain it for three or four days maximum. It requires an enormous amount of mana. I have to spend many years slowly building up the magic before I can activate it. In the end, quite a lot of mana gets poured into the glyph.”

“Many years...? How many, exactly?”

“Hmm. Somewhere around forty, I guess?”

“Forty?!”

Her casual answer left me speechless. But now that I thought about it, witness accounts happened every few decades. That gap was apparently because the Misty Lodge needed time to prepare this magic. And she’d used that magic just for us.

“Hey... Why did you bring me into your world?” I asked. I couldn’t help but wonder.

“I have two reasons,” she started smoothly, having expected this question already. “First, I wanted to know about you. I wanted to know the man accompanied by monsters, and the ones who adore him. I wanted to see your relationships with my own eyes. After watching you for the last three days...I can tell that you are truly important to each other. All of the girls you treat so preciously were adorable.”

She giggled, a note of approval in her tone.

“I spoke with them on several occasions. They were so cute I felt a little embarrassed myself.”

I wondered what they had talked about. I was a little curious, but I decided not to pry. There was plenty to feel shy about.

“And the other reason?” I asked.

“I’d like to form a friendly relationship with you, my dear,” the Misty Lodge said, her slender shoulders slumping. “It seems I’ve failed in this regard...”

“All’s well that ends well. I’m grateful for what you did. So? Why did you want to find out more about us and win our favor?”

There had to be a reason that the Misty Lodge had contacted us. She had to have some kind of objective.

The Misty Lodge stopped smiling. Her gentle atmosphere remained as it was, but her expression turned serious.

“I have a request,” she said, correcting her posture. “I would like to join you on your journey.” Her voice was much crisper than before. “And then, I would like to see how your fate ends.”

“My fate...?”

The peculiarity of her phrasing wasn’t the only thing that bewildered me. I sensed a resolve in her completely separate from her desire to accompany us.

“You see, I’ve been searching for someone like you...for years, and years, and years, all this time.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a grimace. “I don’t mind you coming along, but why search for someone like me? Do you mean you’ve been searching for a visitor?” It was the most probable reason I could think of.

“No, not just any visitor,” she replied. “You specifically, my dear. I’ve been searching for someone who can communicate with a monster’s heart.”

My bewilderment only deepened.

“You guessed that the glamor came from a monster like me who possesses a will. But you could only guess that because you’re in a special position thanks to your unique power, right? Beings like me aren’t known to this world. There are many other things that aren’t known either...”

“There’s more...?” My pulse sped up. I could tell I was about to hear something exceedingly important. “What’s unknown to this world, exactly?” I unconsciously clasped my hands tight atop the table.

“Do you think you’re the first to be able to communicate with a monster’s heart?”

I was caught off guard, unable to reply immediately.

“I’m not...?”

At the very least, I’d never heard of such a thing. The only exception was Kudou Riku, the boy who, while a monster tamer, chose to become a demon king. He was supposed to be the only other one.

“Then...are you saying there was some other human out there who could do the same?” I asked, unable to hide how shaken I was. “But that’s impossible. I investigated whether there had been anyone like me in the past the moment I joined human society. I investigated the legends of the saviors...people who had cheats like I do, who came to this world over the ages. Not a single story among them mentions forming a bond with monsters.”

“Do you believe that history always speaks the truth, my dear?”

This was enough to render me silent. For example, when I first heard of the savior legends from Shiran, I’d felt they were too clean, as if they were all made up. Every single one of the saviors heroically fought monsters, without exception. That was what the legends said. However, the visitors I’d seen with my own eyes weren’t anything like that.

We weren’t heroes. We were humans, naturally full of weaknesses. Kudou had turned into a Demon King because that unsightly weakness had trampled him underfoot, turning all his thoughts into hatred. Takaya Jun had turned into the Mad Beast. Of course, our case was special in that a thousand visitors had appeared in the Depths, but it was hard to believe that not a single person in centuries of history had strayed from the right path.

The legends of the saviors didn’t tell of these messy realities. Such things were practically nonexistent. If so, then what other inconvenient truths had been swept under the rug? For example, what about the elves? There had been a time when spirits were considered a type of monster, and the elves who used magic to contract with said spirits, much like some kind of monster tamer, were treated as traitors to humanity. Things had gone as far as elves being stoned in the streets.

Say a savior appeared who was a monster tamer, or who could communicate with monsters in some other form. Would history really tell their tale? Maybe it was because these stories were kept hidden that the knowledge that monsters could have wills remained unknown to the general public. That was what the Misty Lodge was hinting at, and the fact that she was doing so now meant...

“Don’t tell me... You actually know of someone aside from me?”

She knew of one of my predecessors wiped from history. She knew of their existence, the course of their life, and their fate. That was why she was interested in me and had spent so long preparing to contact me. If so...

“What have you seen?” I muttered.

What had happened to them? How had they meet their end? I couldn’t possibly let this opportunity slip me by. Unfortunately, the Misty Lodge shook her head.

“I cannot speak of this any more than I have,” she said.

“Why?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not doing it to be mean. I’ve only ever watched. I’ve been a spectator. I’ve never been on the stage. As a bystander, I don’t have the right to speak of him... Because of that, I believe some things won’t get across even if I do speak of him.”

She was apologetic, but I saw determination in her expression.

“I find the relationship you have with your servants to be priceless. I’m cheering all of you on. Because of that, if you want to know more, then I’d like you to visit the Dark Woods in northern Aker.”

“Why there?”

I perused the map in my head. A patch of Dark Woods spread out west of the Kitrus Mountains. It was a massive forest that served as the border between the Alliance kingdom of Aker and the Imperial territory of Longue County.

“You don’t mean...”

“Yes. There is someone who knows the past there. If you would like to continue living in this world with those girls who are so dear to you, I’m sure it will be advantageous for you to listen to them.”

“I see...”

I could at least guess to a certain extent from what she’d said. Considering it was a Dark Woods, the master of the forest had to be a powerful nonmigratory monster. I’d heard about the one who lived there. It was called the Rage of the Lands. That was likely the name of the monster who knew the past, who knew of someone else like me.

I didn’t know how this monster was related to the Misty Lodge. It probably had something to do with one of these people in the past who could talk to monsters. For now, it was more than enough for me that she was saying this out of concern for us.

“Right. I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.

The Misty Lodge broke into a delighted smile.